Mark McGwire Biography

Mark David McGwire, born October 1, 1963, is an American former professional baseball first baseman nicknamed Big Mac. He has played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals from 1986 to 2001. McGwire finished his career with 583 home runs, a total that was fifth in MLB history upon his retirement and is now ranked 11th. He led the major leagues in home runs in five different seasons and set the major-league record for home runs in a four-season span from 1996 to 1999 with 245. McGwire also led the league in runs batted in once, on-base percentage twice, and slugging percentage four times. In 1998 while playing for the Cardinals, McGwire competed with Sammy Sosa to surpass Roger Maris's 1961 single-season home run record. In 2010, McGwire publicly admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs during a large portion of his career.